


so if you meet me, have some courtesy

by janie_tangerine



Series: halloween 2k19 tumblr prompts [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Alternate Universe - Prohibition Era, Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, Pre-Slash, Tumblr Prompt, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-06 00:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21217700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: “Fine,” Brynden says, “I did search for you.”“Finally he admits it.” The vampire moves to the stools next to the counter. The entire place is empty. Of course it is. “And why would you, oh respectable professor Tully?”He’s not surprised that his name is known. Of course it would be.“Because you’re the only one who survived out of that nest, and you haven’t killed a human being since Aerys Targaryen died, and that wasn’t Aerys’s modus operandi, and you’ve been out and about for fifteen years and the stories about you are… queer. To put it simply.”The vampire raises an eyebrow and drinks from a small flask. Brynden is fairly sure there’s no whiskey in that.“So what, you’re here to ask me a few questions and kill me?”“I don’t kill anyone who isn’t out of control. I don’t like killing.”





	so if you meet me, have some courtesy

**Author's Note:**

> SOOOO, I took some halloween prompts on tumblr and I was thinking of doing a mass post on the 31st, then I realized that fourteen fics on one day was too much so I'm spacing them out. Have this one and another for today and see you all with others until Halloween. ;) This one was for a lovely anon who wanted _Jon C as this immortal being still stuck onto R, who is long dead, and Brynden as some Van-Helsing-esque (novel-canon, not like... the 2004 movie thing) character who studies those beings but now finds out they have FEELINGS :'D_
> 
> Now... fact is: I kind of detest interview with the vampire and generally SERIOUS ™️ vampire movies but I REALLY LOVED THIS ONE and it worked with that format so... any similarity with that book/movie is because I went with the same tropes but I wasn't trying to do THAT au, lmao... starting from the title which is from sympathy for the devil BECAUSE ADMITTEDLY IT FIT what can I do. xD Anyway, that's one - have fun while I saunter back downwards and post the other one for today. ;)

“I see that you found me, at last.”

Brynden, who knows _exactly_ what the — not _man_, more _creature_ in front of him means, merely leans against the counter of the speakeasy’s downstairs room. He has a hand on a spike in his coat’s pocket, but he doesn’t think he will need to use it. He doesn’t even particularly _want_ to use it, unless he has to.

“At _last_?” He asks back. “That would imply that I spent a long time searching for you.”

“Why, haven’t you?” There’s a pause before _he_ moves out of the shadows of his booth. Right. The same as in each single picture and portrait Brynden has come across in the last… two decades. Bright red hair and beard, blue eyes that look almost glowing in the dim light of the bar, pale skin, _of course_, dark thin lips, obviously, dressed in clothes you might find on your average factory worker. Surely he can blend in well. Brynden has to give him _that_. “Please,” the vampire goes on, “I know you have. You and your… _students_, aren’t exactly the kind of people we’re not aware of.”

Brynden says nothing, merely takes a step closer. “Then you know that my _students_ all share my code of conduct.”

“If I wanted any of you dead for Aerys, you would be,” the vampire goes on, shaking his head. “Alas, he went mad a long time ago and I could do nothing about it.” He sighs, sounding… sad. “Not that I cared for _him_ in the first place. Your blonde acolyte isn’t dead just because all of us knew Aerys was a danger.”

Right. Jaime hasn’t been _out_ in the field for years, since then, not that Brynden can begrudge him that. Everyone was surprised _he_ even survived that meeting.

“Fine,” Brynden says, “I _did_ search for you.”

“Finally he admits it.” The vampire moves to the stools next to the counter. The entire place is empty. Of course it is. “And why would you, oh respectable professor Tully?”

He’s not surprised that his name is known. Of course it would be.

“Because you’re the only one who survived out of _that_ nest, and you haven’t killed a human being since Aerys Targaryen died, and that wasn’t Aerys’s modus operandi, and you’ve been out and about for fifteen years and the stories about you are… queer. To put it simply.”

The vampire raises an eyebrow and drinks from a small flask. Brynden is fairly sure there’s no whiskey in _that_.

“So what, you’re here to ask me a few questions and kill me?”

“I don’t kill anyone who isn’t out of control. I don’t like _killing_.”

“Right. You’re a scholar,” the vampire scoffs. “Fair enough. So what, you just want to interview me for educational purposes?”

“What if I’m curious? Sorry to say, but your lot doesn’t exactly run speakeasies in Baton Rouge for a living, last that I know. Can’t I be professionally interested?”

Blue eyes stare into his own as the vampire jumps behind the counter in one fluid motion. “What’s your poison?” He asks.

“Bourbon,” Brynden shrugs, “with ice. It’s damn hot outside.”

“That’d be a reason why I don’t go outside as a rule.” The vampire pours him a glass, then leans back. His eyes are _really_ blue, Brynden can’t help noticing. “So, what do you know?”

“That you used to be in Aerys’s nest. That after Jaime killed him and most of the others either died or proceed to get themselves killed later you were the only one who disappeared and never came back, and the fun thing is that you’re in _all_ the portraits when it comes to that one group but no one seems to quite know who you _are_. Excuse me if a man finds it intriguing.”

“So you know a little more than nothing.” He takes another sip from the flask. “It’s Jon,” he finally says. “My name, I mean. And I was in all the portraits because I was in love with Aerys’s son.”

Brynden _almost_ chokes on his drink. Then he looks back up at Jon. He’s half-smirking. “What,” he says, “you thought we _couldn’t_?”

“That’s… not exactly what it seems like from the outside.”

“You really know nothing. Being like _this_ just makes everything… stronger. I was in love with Rhaegar since I met him and we were teenagers, I was in love with him when Aerys turned their entire family and I asked him to turn me, too, because I couldn’t fathom the prospect of dying when he would live forever and that I’d have to be far away from him, I was in love with him when he died and I still am now. Oh, for some of us it gets too much and that’s why they go mad, which is why a lot choose to not… really engage with human emotions. Aerys just couldn’t handle it from the get-go.”

“And what about you?”

He shrugs. “I only turned for _him_. Seemed pretty nonsensical to _not_ love him after.” He sighs. “I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t particularly want it. I suppose that’s why it never… touched me _that_ badly.”

Brynden nods, gulping more of that bourbon. “But didn’t Rhaegar die —”

“_Before_ Aerys? Sure he did,” Jon sighs. “Because he _really_ couldn’t not turn that human girl he fell for. You would suppose you’d check if her family has _vampire hunters_ in it.” He shakes his head. “Then again, being a vampire hadn’t taken kindly to him, either. He felt too much. Also, none of them — well. Aerys didn’t ask.”

“But you did.”

“Sure I did. I loved him, didn’t I?”

“And you don’t regret it?”

Jon’s eyes seem to burn as he stares down at him. “No. I never could. And — Aerys banished me because I didn’t enjoy actually killing people. Before I did, Rhaegar — he said he didn’t want his children to turn, too, but his father would have asked for it, so — I took them with. I wasn’t with him when he died and I wish I had been, but if I hadn’t had to leave, who knows how they’d have survived.”

“Wait, you raised two humans?”

“Are you so surprised? Sure I did.” He half-smiles. “It wasn’t _easy_, considering that I can’t go out during the day and so on, but I did it because I didn’t want to fail their father even in death and I _did_ love them, too.”

“And now?”

“The girl is a costume designer for Warner Bros and the boy is about to become a lawyer. I think I did pretty decently, even if they’ll look older than me in a few years.”

Right. Because of course he was turned in his mid-twenties. It’s been twenty years since Jaime killed Aerys, after all. Time passes for everyone. But not for _him_.

“And so now you go around selling alcohol illegally?”

“England wasn’t good for me anymore and when we got here I thought it was an improvement, and then they decided on this ridiculous ban and I figured there was good money to be made in it. Also, no one quite dares trying to shut me down. If you go up the river at night you find enough animals to hunt — it’s not the best option, but it gets me by.”

“Not the _best option_?”

“Human blood tastes better,” Jon shrugs, “but I’d rather not kill anyone. I had enough with Aerys. If I occasionally take a taste from some very drunk client, I take care to make it a _taste_.”

Brynden nods, letting his hold on the stake go. He has a feeling he has nothing to fear here. Still —

“You’re interesting,” he says, after a long pause.

“Am I?”

“Well, you’re here _talking_ to me, you don’t kill humans, you’re raising presumably respectable members of society and you aren’t regretting being a vampire even if it doesn’t seem like you enjoy it. You’re telling me you’re _not_?”

“There’s something else I’m finding more interesting,” Jon says, his elbows going to the counter. “You haven’t blinked once when I said I was in love with _Rhaegar_.”

Brynden shrugs back, not quite sure if he should say it, but — he’s not dead yet, Jon doesn’t give him the _I’m going to murder you right now_ vibes and from what he knows, the intel checks out. “Do you think you have a monopoly on not being into the fairer sex?” He says, finishing his drink. “I don’t know if I ever loved a man so much that I’d give up my humanity for him, but I _did_ love some and there are reasons why I talk to my students and not to half of my relatives.”

“Condolences,” Jon says, “at least my own father died before he could find out about both things.”

“You’re not at all what I had expected,” Brynden admits, feeling his shoulders relax a fraction.

Jon shrugs. “I’ll take it as a compliment. I suppose you might want another round?”

“You know what,” Brynden shrugs, “hit me. I haven’t had any since I left Ireland and this ban is for heathens.”

“Not that I can partake,” Jon half-smiles as he hands him another glass, “but I agree. Complete heathens with some advantages. So, did you get what you came for?”

“Maybe,” he says. “Or maybe I could stay longer. For scientific interest.”

The corner of Jon’s mouth quirks upwards. “Well, this is the one place in this town where you won’t find police closing down operations.”

He says nothing else after, and Brynden for a moment sees a flash of very, very sharp teeth as he takes another drink from that flask.

Somehow, it doesn’t scare him whatsoever.

End.


End file.
